Alaska State Troopers are investigating the shooting death of a Unalakleet man after investigators say he got in to a “physical altercation” with another man Sunday night.

In an online dispatch, Troopers wrote they received a call shortly after 11:05 p.m. Sunday for “an incident where one person was deceased and another person had been injured.” The report went first to the Unalakleet Police Department and then to Troopers in Unalakleet, AST spokesperson Megan Peters said in an email response Tuesday.

Troopers arrived at the home where the incident was reported and found 31-year-old Tauna Showalter, of Unalakleet, dead from what investigators said was an apparent gunshot wound.

Troopers wrote in the online dispatch that the “investigation reveals that Showalter and [another] adult male had a physical altercation which led up to Showalter’s death.” No additional details were given as of Tuesday.

That second man was transported to the Unalakleet community clinic for “non-life threatening injuries” and was later medevaced to Anchorage for further treatment. The second man’s name is not being given, according to AST’s Peters, because “the other man involved … is not charged with anything and we do not provide potential suspect information.”

Peters said that Troopers “cannot provide more details about [the] investigation as it is an ongoing,” adding that “Troopers are still conducting follow up interviews.”

The Unalakleet Police Department was on the scene to assist with “scene security” while Troopers from the Nome Post were also on hand to assist in the investigation, Peters wrote.

Showalter’s next of kin has been notified. His body will be taken to Anchorage for an autopsy at the State Medical Examiner’s office.

The investigation into the cause and circumstances leading up to Showalter’s death, Troopers said, remains ongoing.

]]>http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/02/10/one-dead-one-injured-after-unalakleet-physical-altercation/feed/114382In Cripple, Aaron Burmeister on “the toughest run of my life”http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/03/06/in-cripple-aaron-burmeister-on-the-toughest-run-of-my-life/
http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/03/06/in-cripple-aaron-burmeister-on-the-toughest-run-of-my-life/#commentsThu, 06 Mar 2014 22:47:25 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=7642In Cripple on Thursday morning, Nome-raised Aaron Burmeister was determined to see the finish line in the 2014 race, despite an Iditarod run that’s tested him…]]>

In Cripple on Thursday morning, Nome-raised Aaron Burmeister was determined to see the finish line in the 2014 race, despite an Iditarod run that’s tested him both physically and emotionally.

It was “probably the toughest run of my life” pulling into Cripple, Burmeister says. There have been a lot of superlative descriptions of the trail’s difficulty in the 2014 Iditarod, but Burmeister’s carries special weight; a run over rough trail, earlier this week, caused an accident that injured the musher’s knee.

In Cripple, with Laureli Kinneen, Burmeister confirmed: his knee is torn in three tendons – his ACL, MCL, and meniscus.

Nome’s hometown favorite, however, was determined to continue on, even as he acknowledged that his activities both on and off the trail – whether mushing or caring for his dogs in a checkpoint – were taking him longer with only one fully-functional leg.

Despite the challenges he’s facing mushing his team, Burmeister made it first to the Cripple checkpoint, thus winning the Dorothy Page Halfway Award: a special trophy and $3,000 in gold nuggets.

What’s buoying Burmeister most, however, seems not to be the halfway award, which he says he was “shocked” to win, but rather the support and motivation he feels both from his family and from his dogs themselves, who seem to be sensing and responding to his injury as they mush down the trail.

His dogs, Burmeister says, are “phenomenal” and “making up for my weaknesses.”

The Big Lake, Alaska musher had stopped along the trail from Kaltag to Unalakleet when he accidentally cut his hand with a knife; he was attempting to cut up a frozen piece of fish so he could snack his dogs.

In Berkowitz’s own words, the injury put his future use of the hand in jeopardy. Removing himself from the race, he said, would be necessary “if I wanted to use my hand, ever, in the future.”

Berkowitz received stitches on his hand after arriving in Unalakleet, but he told KNOM’s Laureli Kinneen that it would need more thorough medical attention, especially given the risk of infection.

In short, his race could not continue.

“It’s definitely not the way we planned on ending the season,” Berkowitz said. “It will be haunting us all year long, up until next Iditarod.”

As for his future in the race, Berkowitz said that “ideally” he’d be back in 2013 but that he’d have to factor in the reality – both medical and economic – of his injury. “We’ll… see how the hand heals up… This is a pretty big financial hit,” he said.

A surgeon who happened to be in Unalakleet Sunday afternoon – Paul Sayer of Homer, Alaska – offered his thoughts on Berkowitz’s medical state. Without too much information, Dr. Sayer noted, “I can’t hardly say anything,” but he suggested that Berkowitz “might need some specialist consultation in Anchorage.”